Rated 4.9 out of 5 by our customers
Rated 4.9 out of 5 by our customers
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If you spend any time on the water, you'll know that a decent pair of sailing gloves is one of those bits of kit you only miss when you don't have them. Rope burn on a gybe, blisters from a long beat, cold fingers fumbling with a shackle pin: gloves matter. The Gill Deckhand Short Finger is one of the most popular sailing gloves we stock at Sailing Chandlery, and for good reason. We've put them through their paces to give you an honest take on where they deliver and where they have their limits.
The Deckhand is Gill's go-to glove for dinghy sailing and general watersports. The short finger version leaves the top third of your fingers exposed, giving you the tactile feedback you need for rope handling without sacrificing palm protection. They sit at £28.00, which puts them firmly in the accessible end of Gill's glove range, well below the Championship and Race options.
They come in five sizes: Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large, and XXL. The fit is snug by design. If you're between sizes, go up rather than down. Loose material bunches in the palm and you'll feel it instantly when you're sheeting in hard.
The standout feature is the double-layer Amara reinforcement across the palm. Amara is a synthetic suede: lightweight, hardwearing, and crucially, it doesn't absorb water the way natural leather does. That matters enormously for dinghy sailing. Pull on a wet glove made from a water-retaining material and your hands end up cold and heavy. The Amara on the Deckhand wicks away quickly and keeps its grip even when soaked.
The wraparound palm protection is worth noting too. Rather than a standard patch that stops at the edge of the palm, Gill has taken the reinforcement around the sides and onto the base of the fingers. This eliminates the uncomfortable side seam that plagues cheaper gloves, and it means the wear protection goes exactly where the rope actually runs.
Across the back of the hand, a four-way stretch fabric gives a flexible, close fit. This has a UV 50+ rating, which is a useful bonus for long summer days racing or cruising. The fabric is also water-repellent, so light spray sits on the surface rather than soaking through.
Offset finger seams. The seams on the fingers are positioned away from the pressure points where rope contact happens. After a few hours of sailing, you'll appreciate this. Standard gloves can rub and cause chafe at the seam line. The Deckhands manage this well.
Reduced cuff length. This is one of the more underrated design choices. The cuff sits short and neat at the wrist, so it tucks easily under a drysuit or wetsuit cuff without creating bulk. There's no Velcro strap snagging on your sailing watch or digging into your wrist. A rear volume adjustment and wrist closure are included for a personalised fit, and the closure faces inward so there's no risk of accidentally stopping your race timer.
Pre-shaped construction. The glove is cut with a slight curve that mimics how your hand naturally sits when gripping a sheet. It sounds like a minor point, but it reduces the fatigue you get from fighting a stiff flat glove all day.
For dinghy sailing in spring, summer, and early autumn conditions, these gloves are very capable. They're light enough that you barely notice you're wearing them on a warm day, yet the palm grip is solid whether you're pulling on a mainsheet, tacking a jib, or wrestling a spinnaker. The short finger design means you can feel what you're doing with knots, clips, and cam cleats without having to take the gloves off.
In cold conditions, the Deckhand Short Finger does show its limits. With the fingertips exposed, you'll feel the cold well before you want to on a brisk autumn or winter day. For those conditions, look at the Deckhand Long Finger version, which adds coverage to the top two-thirds of each finger while keeping the thumb and forefinger free for dexterity.
The gloves dry fast. Pull them off after a capsize and you can be wearing them again within minutes. The Amara palm in particular sheds water quickly.
Durability is reasonable at this price point. These are not a lifetime investment, but with regular sailing you should expect a solid season or two before the palm shows significant wear. The offset seams help by reducing the early failure point that seam-on-palm designs create.
The Gill Deckhand Short Finger is a strong match for:
They're less suited to cold-weather sailing (the Long Finger version handles that better) or heavy offshore work where a more substantial glove with neoprene insulation would be the right choice.
At £28.00, the Gill Deckhand Short Finger is one of those gloves that earns its reputation the unglamorous way: by quietly working well, session after session. The Amara palm grips cleanly in wet conditions, the offset seams keep pressure points away from where you feel them most, and the short cuff fits neatly under almost any sailing outfit. They're not the flashiest glove in the Gill range, but they're the one that most sailors come back to.
If you're a warm-weather dinghy racer who needs both grip and fingertip feel, the Deckhand Short Finger is the glove we'd reach for first.
